Lubricating oil-cup



(No Model.)

S. P. LATHROP.

LUBRIGATING OIL CUP.

Patented Dec. 20, 1887.

krumognphur. Washinglon. u. u.

U ITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

S. PARK LATHROP, OF MONTGLAIB, NEW JERSEY.

LUBRICATING OIL-CUP.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 374,979, dated December 20, 1887.

Application filed June 3, 1887.

T0 at whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, S. PARK LATHROP, a citizen of the United-States, residing at Montclair, New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Lubricating Oil- Gups, fully described and represented in the following specification and the accompanying drawings, forming a part of the same.

The object of this invention is to furnish a lubricator or oil-cup with an adjustable regulating-valve which may be withdrawn from the seat at the pleasure of the operator to give a flush of oil without affecting the adjustment of the valve or requiring a readjustment of the same after such flushing. To effect this object I provide the valve stem with a collar which is pressed toward the valve-seat by a spring and is sustained upon a shoulder within the feed-tube, so as to be freely movable from the seat for the purpose of flushing, while the contact of the collar with the shoulder restores the valve and its stem to their initial position, and thus secures the readjustment of the valve in the desired relation to the seat.

The invention also consists in certain constructive features, hereinafter claimed.

To regulate the feed in the required manner the valve and its seat must be adjustable toward one another, which may be effected in my invention by moving the collar upon the valve-stem or movingthe valveseat within the shank of the lubricator, in which latter case the collar may be fixed permanently to the valve-stem.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a view of a lubricator in longitudinal central section where hatched, the valve-stem, spring, and collar not being in section. Fig. 2 is a plan of the feed-tube with the valve-stem and collar upon a larger scale, the entire view being turned ninety degrees from the position shown in Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a section of the feed-tube on line so a: in Fig. 4., with the collar turned at right angles to the position shown in Figs. 1 and 2. Fig. 4is a longitudinal section of the feed-tube, with the valve-stem and collar in the position shown in Fig. 3. Fig. 5 is a detached View upon a larger scale of the valve'stem, with the collarrigidly attached thereto and the spring resting thereon; and Fig. 6, an outer view of a modification of feed-tube.

Such stem could be used in the lubricator when provided with the adjustable valveseat shown in Fig. 1.

a is the shank of the oil-cup; b, a plug fitted therein by means of a screw-thread, and containing the valve-seat c and outlet 0'.

d is the cover of the oil-cup, and e the casing.

f is the feed-tube, provided with longitudinal slots f and transverse shoulder g.

i is the valve; h, the valve-stem; Z, the collar upon the same, and Z pins upon the collar adapted to rest upon the shoulder g.

j is a cap applied to the top of the feed-tube and operating partly to hold the cover d in place, and perforated to permit the passage of the valve-stem, which is provided with head h at the top, to rotate the stem or lift it from its seat, as desired.

In is a spring applied to the stem between the cap and the collar and operating to press the valve normally toward the seat.

The feed-tube is bored of larger size above than below the collar to form the shoulder g, and the body of the collar is shown formed small enough, as in Figs. 2 and 3, to ,move within the lower part of the tube, while the pins Z are adapted to slide up and down in the slotsf, as shown in Fig. 3, or to turn freely in the upper part of the feed-tube when withdrawn from the slots, so as to rest upon the shoulder, as shown in Fig. 2. The collar is shown in Figs. 1 and 4 fitted to the stem h by a screw-thread, with a jarn-nut, Z beneath it. When furnished with a jam-nut, the stem can only be adjusted within the collar to vary the feed by unscrewing the cap-nutj and temporarily removing the stem and collar from the feed-tube; but the collar may be made with a slit, P, at one side, as shown in Fig. 2, and pressed elastically upon thestem 7:, so that the stem will retain its position within the collar by friction, and the adjustment may then be effected by turning the stem within the collar, when the pins Z are inside the slots f, to prevent the collar from rotating.

5 justment of the valve.

When it is desired to close the valve to temporarily arrest the feed, as when a machine stops working, the stem is raisedto lift the pins Z from the shoulder, and is then turned so that the pins may enter the slots f, as shown in Figs. 3 and 4, in which they may move longitudinally when the stem is released and the spring thus operate to press the valve upon the seat. Such longitudinal movement presses the collar below the shoulder, as shown in Fig. 4.

By the combination of the shoulder and the slots f with the collar and the pins fitted to such slots I am enabled to regulate the feed in any degree, and to give a flush of oil when desired, or to entirely shut off the feed without effecting the adjustment of the valve, as the latter is immediately restored by lifting the collar above the shoulder and turning the pins to rest thereon.

It is obvious that one slot and one pin upon the collar would operate the same as the two shown herein, and that in such case it would be immaterial howrthe shoulder was formed within the feed-tube, provided it operated to sustain the collar when the pin was turned thereon.

With the collar affixed rigidly to the stem, as shown in Fig. 5, the valve would not be adjustable, and to employ such a construction I make the valve'seat adjustable in relation to the stem by forming itin the threaded plug I), inserted within the shank a, and provided, preferably, with a notch for the application of a screw-driver.

Theproper setting for a lubricator connected quired adjustment.

In adjusting the seat toward the point of the valve the lubricator shown is unscrewed from the socket in which it operates to give access to the screw-plug b, and the valve is sustained in afixed position by resting the collar upon the shoulder 9, while the operator turns the plug to vary the aperture at the valve seat adjacent to the valve, as required. The shank is then applied to the socket in which it operates, and if the adjustment prove defective the lubricator may be again removed from the socket by unscrewing its shank and the plug readjusted.

It is obvious that a shoulder may be formed in the feed-tube without making the bore of the same in two different sizes, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2, and Fig. 6 is an illustration of the outside of the feed-tube constructed with a transverse slot at the upper end of the vertical slotf, to form a shoulder adapted to sustain the pin 1.

The pin rests upon the lower side of the transverse slot 12, and the latter is shown provided with a notch, 0, to engage with the un der side of the pin and prevent it from slipping out of the slot a into the vertical slot by any vibration of the machinery to which it is attached, as, for instance, the journal or conmeeting-rod boxes of a locomotive.

The transverse slot is also made of sufficient height to permit the lifting of the pin fromits lower side to give a flush of oil when desired, and the transverse slot thus furnishes an exact equivalent for the enlarged bore of the feedtube shown in Figs. 1 and 2 to form a shoulder, 9.

In my prior application, Serial No. 224,208, I have shown a transverse slot for holding a collar in a fixed position in a feed-tube, the height of the slot not permitting the lifting of the collar to remove the valve from its seat, but the valve-stem itself being constructed to slide through the collar without turning when giving aflush of oil.

My present construction will. therefore be distinguished from that shown in my prior application by the height of the slot, which confers a different function upon it and enables it to operate as a shoulder, while it permits a collar fastened rigidly upon the valve-stem to be lifted without turning the pin away from such transverse slot.

I hereby disclaim my said application, Serial No. 224,208, as its construction for effecting similar results is essentially different.

Having thus set forth my invention, what I claim herein is 1. In a lubricator or oil-cup, the combination, with the feed-tubef, provided withshoulder 9, and having a valve-seat, 0, arranged within one end, and cap at the other end, as set forth, ofthe valve 2', having stem 7t,threaded externally, the threaded collar adjustable upon the stem and adapted to rest upon the shoulder, as set forth, and the spring k,applied to the stem between the cap and the nut, as and for the purpose set forth.

2. In a lubricator or oil-cup, the combina tion, with the slotted and shouldered feedtube f, having a valve-seat, c, at one end, of the valve 1', having stem h, threaded externally, the cap j upon the top of the feed-tube, the threaded collar provided with pin Z, projecting into the slot f, and the spring 70, applied to the. stem between the cap and the nut, as and for the purpose set forth.

3. In a lubricator, the combination, with the feed-tube provided with shoulder,and having a valve-seat within one end and cap at the other end, as set forth, of the valve t, having stem provided with collar Z, adapted to rest upon the shoulder, means, substantially as described, for adjusting the valve and valve- I OO seat in relation to one another, and a spring applied to the stem between the collar and the cap, as and for the purpose set forth.

4. In a lubrieator having a valve stem 5 pressed toward the valve-seat by a spring,said

valve stem being sustained above the seat by a shoulder, as set forth, the eornbination,with

the valve, the feed-tube, and the oil-cup having shank a, of a plug containing the valve- 10 seatand outlet, and fitted by a screw-thread Within the shank of the oil-cup, and adjustable to and from the valve, as and for the purpose set forth.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in the presence of the two subscribing wit- 1 5 nesses.

S. PARK LATHROP.

Witnesses:

THOS. S. CRANE, HENRY J. MILLER. 

